1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display technique for an image arranged on a map.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, some image capturing apparatuses such as a digital camera include a position detection unit such as a GPS unit. When image data is captured, position information acquired by the position detection unit is set as position information (so-called geotag) of the shooting location in header information of image data or the like. Image data containing information of a shooting location (to be referred to as image data) can be arranged and displayed at a position corresponding to the shooting location on a map using position information of the shooting location. The shooting location of the image data can be intuitively presented to the user.
However, when arranging and displaying image data on a map, if there are a plurality of image data captured at the same shooting location, these image data overlap each other, making the display difficult to see. In some cases, arranged image data occludes a landmark such as the name or shape of a building on a map, and the user cannot grasp shooting location information. To solve this, there is a technique capable of changing, to an arbitrary position set by a user, image data once arranged on a map in accordance with shooting location information held in image data. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-66972 discloses a technique capable of changing the position of image data arranged on a map. In this technique, information of the arrangement position of image data on a map is stored as position information on an actual map, sharing the arrangement position of the image data on the map between a plurality of users.
However, in the technique of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-66972, information of the arrangement position of image data on a map is shared for only a scale size of the map at which the arrangement position has been changed. When another user views the map at another scale size, the scale size may be changed to one at which the arrangement position has been changed.
The arrangement position of image data on a map is stored as position information on an actual map because the map is scrolled, as described above. If image data is arranged using position information on the actual map upon a change of the scale size, the following case may occur. For example, when the scale size of a map is greatly changed, image data arranged near a shooting location on the map at a scale size before the change is displayed at a position spaced apart from the shooting location upon the change of the scale size. As a result, the user may not be able to find out or view the image data captured at the shooting location for the purpose of viewing upon the change of the scale size of the map.
To prevent this, image data may contain information of arrangement positions on a map for all scale sizes provided by the map. However, for example, the arrangement position of image data may change depending on the scale size, and the user may be confused. When a change of an arrangement position at one scale size is to be reflected on other scale sizes, the arrangement position needs to be recalculated for all scale sizes. Further, storing information of arrangement positions on a map for all the scale sizes of the map in image data increases the image data size and is not practical.